Favourite Games You Can Finish In Under 3 Hours.

[Kashagi]

I love an epic adventure, whether it be a fantastic strategy like COH or Starcraft, an endless online adventure, or one of those giants of depth such as Final Fantasy. People generally enjoy a game you can spend tens or even hundreds of hours on.

But I also love just being able to sit down, and finish a game in one sitting here and there, and often we have those same games we just keep playing over and over, even if we have done the same thing over and over it never gets old! Basically this thread is dedicated to those wonderfully short games you can finish in one sitting.

Some games I often find myself playing again and again:

Jones: In The Fast Lane

A strange game that could be completed in 10 minutes. The aim of the game is to get a job, go to college, and aim for the top. You win when you gain a certain amount of money, gain a certain amount of degrees, get a high paying job and buy luxuries. There is not much to this game at all in terms of strategy, while the game goes 4 player I have played it perhaps hundreds of times and do the same thing everytime.

I have no idea why I keep playing this one, I enjoy the concept, and though its extremely simple, I just love replaying it.

Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight

This is an extremely fun multiplayer game that has only come back to my attention recently. 4 Knights are sent out to the world to slay monsters and acquire a moonstone. To obtain the moonstone these knights must visit certain areas to fight monsters which vary depending on location. Somewhere in each part of the map lies a key, when one knight obtains all four keys, they may head to the centre of the map to fight the final boss.

Simple concept but insanely fun when 4 players are taking turns struggling to take the keys off each other through sword fights and decapitations. There are many other factors to the game, such as a near unstoppable dragon that flies around the map targetting certain players, as well as towns to visit, and equipment and stats to be upgraded.

This game is great fun for a few hours, is very violent for its time and a great game multiplayer wise. This is freeware and I advise you check it out sometime.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

This was and still is one of my favourite SNES games, obviously a fighting game based on the Dragon movie. There really isnt much special to say in all honesty, the game simply progresses through the fights of the movie with a few classic fights from Bruce Lee movies added in. Some of the fights are cheap, and one is very tricky in that you have to win in 60 seconds.

I grew up with this game and remember the first time I got to the Phantom at the end of the game when I would have maybe been 10. He kicked my ass. He did it again and again and again and again. I remember when I finally depleted all the bastards health and felt victorious... until he didnt die. It took me years to learn you had to strangle him with nunchucks like in the movie, and it might have been the greatest boss fight in my mind because of how long it took me to defeat him.

I still play this game every couple of days, for me it only takes about 15 minutes to beat (providing I beat the Phantom), but I come back to it again and again and enjoy it every single time. That is my perfect example of an afternoon game.

 

[Dagger Dias]

An obvious choice for best game to finish in under 3 hours would be Super Metroid. I have only done so one time, I was determined to see the Samus in a swimsuit ending. It was quite an accomplishment and I often fire the game up to attempt another 3 hour playthrough, I usually end up dying against Ridley (He's extremely tough when you don't have time to look for tons of energy tanks) or clearing the game in just over 3 hours. My record was around 2 hours 50 minutes, I believe.... I can't remember the exact time due to it being ages ago.

The other one would be Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. Yes, you heard me right. My biggest accomplishment EVER in gaming (well, disregarding that whole "creating my own game" thing) was beating Link to the Past with every item, every heart piece, never dying, all in exactly 2 hours 45 minutes. Needless to say I marked out. It was epic and another accomplishment I might never top, much like my victory of seeing Super Metroid's best ending several years ago. I can still easily clear the game with every item and without dying in 3 to 4 hours.... however getting all the heart pieces is tougher to do as quickly due to the luck involved in some of the mini-games (I'm looking at YOU, digging game!).

Although I tend to prefer stuff like Final Fantasy.... being able to clear a classic game very quickly, or even just attempting to do so in a roughly 3 hour time limit never gets old and it's always fun because you've played said game so many times before, so you know you'll enjoy the quick playthrough.

 

[MasterShakeIz4Real]

Gonna go with everyone of the Metal Gear Solid games. I can beat'em in 50 minutes (excluding 4, I think I can do that within maybe 2 hrs? I cant remember.) and yet I still love them and continue to play'em.

(Dagger you are a fucking monster for beating Link to the Past in under 3 hrs. Super Metroid too. Jesus Christ man. LMAO)

I also love playing The Bouncer over and over again and you can beat that entire game in 45 mins if you do it the LONG way for Christ Sake.

Resident Evil 0,1,2,3,4 also belong here. I think I beat the first one in under 3 hrs, but the others I KNOW for a fact it only took like 2 hrs. All of those were pretty difficult to do, but fun as hell.

 

[Kashagi]

Gee Dagger your a monster, I really should change the title to under 1 hour because Zelda and Metroid certainly wasnt the kind of game I had in mind.

However if you can play that like the types of games I am suggesting well, fair enough. Another game I absolutely love that can be finished in 20 minutes (if you skip the cut scenes and if you know the game off by heart like I do.)

Full Throttle

A classic LucasArts adventure from their prime that I feel gets overlooked due to the other more popular series such as Maniac Mansion, Sam And Max, Monkey Island etc.

Full Throttle is a point and click adventure, and a great one, in typical LucasArts style it is colourful and very very funny at times. The game follows a biker, Ben, who to put it short is framed for the murder of a big name motorbike dealer. Ben must clear his name, save his gang from prison and reveal the true killer Adrian Ripburger (voiced by Mark Hamill).

The game is full of memorable characters, scenes you wont forget (if you have played it, you should instantly be thinking of the hilarious minefield scene). The game is overlooked due to its short playtime, but all the more reason to mention it, its just great to replay this game, remember all the puzzles and corny lines. And it can more then easily be done in one sitting.

Edit: Didnt expect the pic to be that huge

 

[Dagger Dias]

Here's another one, unlike my choices in my last post ("Link to the Past" and "Super Metroid") it's a short game. A rather short game that I enjoy finishing in under 3 hours is "Home Alone". A lot of people didn't like that game, possibly because it didn't follow the storyline of the movie that well.... It was a fun game though.

You had to gather up items in the 4 parts of the house, each "part" of the house being one of the four main levels, and throw the items down into the basement. That would unlock a key which you had to grab in order to enter the basement, where a boss fight would take place. The first level didn't really have a boss you just had to dodge enemies. The other levels had bosses such as a spider and a ghost. The final boss was a huge rat, kind of a random pick but oh well. The music was pretty cool too, for an early 90's SNES game.

Overall, "Home Alone" was a fun little game that can be beaten in a few hours. It's still one I like to play because it was simple yet fun, for some reason it just doesn't get old. More people should have given it a chance.

 

[PsychoBlack]

Marvel vs DC Universe its so fun to do the story mode in about an hour or two then go kick ass online and it has a really good replay value because you can just use different characters each time you do a story mode

another one is call of duty the story mode in these games have been really short lately but still are quite entertaining

 

[Mr. Steve]

I love an epic adventure, whether it be a fantastic strategy like COH or Starcraft, an endless online adventure, or one of those giants of depth such as Final Fantasy. People generally enjoy a game you can spend tens or even hundreds of hours on.

Holy crap, if you beat Starcraft under 3 hours, you gotta be a beast. Well, for me its

Halo 3: ODST.

Granted, if you play it the first time, it'll take a while since you'll basically be lost. But the second time I played it, it must have done it under 2:40 hours. That's not counting cutscenes of course, which adds up like 20 minutes or so.

 

[Kashagi]

Holy crap, if you beat Starcraft under 3 hours, you gotta be a beast. Well, for me its

Halo 3: ODST.

Granted, if you play it the first time, it'll take a while since you'll basically be lost. But the second time I played it, it must have done it under 2:40 hours. That's not counting cutscenes of course, which adds up like 20 minutes or so.

No sir I cannot do that, after 10 years of playing I am still an amateur.

I was actually using it as an example of an epic game that takes hours to complete.

ODST, I didnt realise the game was that short, mind you I have only played multiplayer, but from what I saw of others playing it seemed there was more substance then that. Ah well, I considered buying it once, but then I remembered how little I play Halo 3..

 

[ABMorales787]

Marvel VS Capcom 2:

The greatest of fighting games. Going through the Arcade Mode for kicks is awesome. Glad to see a sequel finally coming.

Metroid Fusion:

The story always makes me wanna play it again. I get so entangled in it that by the time I realize it, I'm almost done. I get to maybe to % 75 of the items, but that's not important to get the games good ending.

Tetris:

I finish it in under three hours because I really doubt I can make it that far. Its an addicting little bastard none the less.

 

[Amarillo del Bosque Verde]

An obvious choice for best game to finish in under 3 hours would be Super Metroid. I have only done so one time, I was determined to see the Samus in a swimsuit ending. It was quite an accomplishment and I often fire the game up to attempt another 3 hour playthrough, I usually end up dying against Ridley (He's extremely tough when you don't have time to look for tons of energy tanks) or clearing the game in just over 3 hours. My record was around 2 hours 50 minutes, I believe.... I can't remember the exact time due to it being ages ago.

The other one would be Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. Yes, you heard me right. My biggest accomplishment EVER in gaming (well, disregarding that whole "creating my own game" thing) was beating Link to the Past with every item, every heart piece, never dying, all in exactly 2 hours 45 minutes. Needless to say I marked out. It was epic and another accomplishment I might never top, much like my victory of seeing Super Metroid's best ending several years ago. I can still easily clear the game with every item and without dying in 3 to 4 hours.... however getting all the heart pieces is tougher to do as quickly due to the luck involved in some of the mini-games (I'm looking at YOU, digging game!).

Although I tend to prefer stuff like Final Fantasy.... being able to clear a classic game very quickly, or even just attempting to do so in a roughly 3 hour time limit never gets old and it's always fun because you've played said game so many times before, so you know you'll enjoy the quick playthrough.

I worship you for this lol...I beat super mario brother 2 in under three hours...mainly due to warp pipes.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

FFVII Dirge Of Cerberus

I am absolutely addicted to this kind of game. With Valentine I kick much ass. Shooting games are a beautiful thing.

Starfox 64-Either Route

Another monster of a game, but with the right know-how you can skip certain planets and head closer and closer to Planet Venom. Definitely a game I had to play a lot of to beat it in less than 3 hours.

Super Mario Bros. SNES

Yeah sure I used the Warp Zone to skip wayyy ahead to worlds, but still managed to beat it in less than 3 hours. Another addicting game.